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Can Tumblr compete in the mainstream marketplace?

Facebook’s ubiquity and Twitter’s ease of use have long made them
favourites for businesses entering the social media space for the first
time.

With increased resources being assigned to social media teams however,
it can be difficult to stand out in the crowd.

Short-form blogging site Tumblr believes it offers a solution however, and is currently working to increase its mainstream recognition,
actively courting newspapers, magazines and other traditional media
outlets.

According to the New York Times, Tumblr has appointed former Newsweek journalist Mark Coatney as a ‘Media Evangelist’, actively promoting the site to those who want more than just a Twitter stream, but are finding it hard to carve out a niche on the already crowded Facebook.

Coatney described Tumblr as a "space between the two" and believes it’s a better option for companies wishing to display images and video without committing to a full YouTube brand channel or regular blog.

While Tumblr does have a simple interface and active community, effective running does require significantly more work than Twitter and Coatney himself admitted that joining up would represent a "huge leap of faith" on the part of publishers who may struggle to find a use for the site, which often works best when dealing with single concept ideas.

Although Tumblr currently reports around 1.5bn page views a month, its ability to drive traffic can be limited compared to other channels, and while many major outlets do have a presence there it’s often limited to a placeholder.

The big question here then may be one of time management.

Many businesses are still working to understand the various rules inherent in various social media networks, and may not feel that the time and effort involved justify the ROI available from a new outlet.

Is there room for a third option in large business social media campaigns, or is Tumblr more likely to remain a tool for independent users?

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Comments (3)

Making use of marketing tool like the flyers is an effective way of getting customers attention. An advertising flyer does not simply inform people of your businesses current deals and up coming events but rather it carries your companies name into peoples minds and homes.

There are a lot of factors that make Tumblr very different from Facebook. One I'd like to point out is that it's anonymous. Accounts don't need to be publicly tied to your name and they don't show the number of followers someone has. I wrote a post on Tumblr a few days ago:

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